Once Upon A Stormy Night
by RumpelstiltskinDearie
Summary: Once upon a stormy night, the residents of Storybrooke found themselves being pulled into a vortex of darkness, up in the sky. And when they see where they are deposited, they are completely confused.
1. Chapter 1

**Once Upon A Stormy Night  
by Gwin Gold**

Author's Note: Okay, so. This is an idea I had one day while thinking about OUAT (of course; OUAT has taken over my mind [it really has; I figured that out when I realized that I want more than anything to meet the cast from it]).  
This is a crossover fanfiction about what I think would happen if some of the OUAT characters were teleported to Ferryport Landing (from the book series by Michael Buckley). I imagine they'd be thinking, "Oh, come on, these people can't be the real fairy tale characters; they're obviously imposters!" while the Ferryporters would be thinking the same exact thing.  
So, this is what I imagine would happen if OUAT characters (I don't know who it'll be; Mr. Gold for sure, and probably others as the story progresses) were teleported to Ferryport Landing.  
ALSO! In this version, people have been brought back to life and/or found since magic returned to Storybrooke. Which means Baelfire (who I'm simply saying is fourteen years old, because it's too much of a pain to do all the math and figure out how old he'd actually be; besides, this is fanfiction, anything can happen) is alive, well, and living with Belle and Mr. Gold. Graham (who I actually haven't seen before, since I was introduced to the show at the very end of the season) has come back to life, and August Booth is no longer made of wood.  
Enjoy!

-X-X-X-

**In a wonderland  
Of fireflies and fairy tales  
Of bright stars and silver sails  
****With flaming flowers that brightly blaze  
With swirling clouds in violet haze  
****That's where you'll find them.**

_Gwin Gold - "Fairy Tale Land"_

-X-X-X-**  
**  
Chapter One  
Thunder Crash, Lightning Flash

*8*8*

The way it happened had been strange in and of itself.

The residents of Storybrooke had been going along with their daily, positively normal lives (well, not so normal now that Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin had brought magic back). It had been a rainy night; not that it bothered anyone.

Well, at any case, the rain had become a storm, and the storm had eventually become a dark, swirling vortex up in the sky.

And that, dear Reader, is where we shall begin our tale.

*8*8*

"Listen to that thunder, papa," Baelfire said, gazing out of the window of the new house Mr. Gold had purchased once he found Belle and Baelfire were both alive and well. "It reminds me of back home, in Fairy Tale Land."

"I know, Bae," Mr. Gold said. "Come on over here and help Belle do the dishes, will you? I have some taxes to do, and if I don't get started now, I have a feeling I'll forget all about them."

Baelfire complied, walking over to the sink and drying the dishes as Belle washed them. Gold made his way into his office.

"Bae, your fifteenth birthday is in a month, isn't it?" Belle asked, rinsing a plate under steaming hot water and then handing it to Baelfire.

"Yes, it is," Baelfire answered.

"Do you have anything in particular that you want?" Belle inquired.

Baelfire was quiet for a minute, thinking. "Not that I can think of. I'm just happy having Papa back. And living with him and you."

Belle smiled. "Well, I'll try and find something special to get you."

Baelfire grinned back. "Thank you, Belle."

They fell into a companionable silence. When the dishes were finished, Baelfire went into the living room and sat next to the window, so he could watch the rain pour down.

Belle sat down on the sofa and began reading a book.

Everything was peaceful...

...until the explosion.

It wasn't actually an explosion, of course. It was an extremely ear-splitting crash of thunder, so loud that it shook the house. The lights flickered, and then went out, throwing Baelfire and Belle into darkness.

Belle screamed, and Baelfire stumbled his way through the blackness, trying to find her. "Papa! Papa!"

"Bae! What happened?" Gold's frantic voice came from somewhere in the back of the room. "Hold on, let me get the flashlights."

A few seconds later, a shaft of pale light cut through the shadows. To Gold, it revealed Belle huddling against the couch, Baelfire crouched protectively next to her.

To Baelfire and Belle, it showed Gold's face, lit up by only a faint glow from the flashlight. And it was a face both of them were relieved to see-he would protect them. He knew what to do in situations like this.

At least, he let them believe that. But when it came to deafening roars of thunder and power outages, he was rather out-of-his-element.

"It's all right, it's just a storm," Gold soothed, going over to his family and kneeling down next to them. "The lights will be back on in no time. Until then, we can pretend that we're out camping in the woods, and our fire just died down."

In all truth, pretending like they were doing anything didn't make Gold feel any better. But it always seemed to help Baelfire and Belle, so he said it anyway.

"But it's not a normal storm," Baelfire whispered, his eyes fixed on the window. "Can't you tell? Can't you sense the magic?"

Gold did not reply, watching streaks of lightning flash across the sky. He _had _sensed the magic, as soon as the storm had come. He hadn't mentioned it in the hopes that Baelfire and Belle would not notice.

But they had.

"That doesn't mean anything." Gold attempted to calm them. "We're in a house that's full of old, magical items."

"Papa," Baelfire said, with all the sternness of a parent talking to a child. "Don't try and hide the truth from us. The magic we sense is not coming from our house."

Curses. Baelfire had always been an obeservant lad.

Gold sighed. "You're right, boy. The storm is either magic or was brought down on us by magic. But we'll be all right, you'll see."

Looking at the fear on the faces of his wife and son, he could only hope that they believed him.

*8*8*

Meanwhile, other people were becoming worried about the sudden storm.

Henry, who was now living with Emma, was in his bedroom. He didn't like the thunder, or the lightning, or the sound of the rain pounding relentlessly down onto the roof. It all brought a sense of foreboding into his heart.

Finally, he jumped out of bed and headed into Emma's room.

She was awake, and sat up as soon as he entered. "Hey, kid. What's the matter?"

"I don't like the storm," Henry replied, frowning. "I'm not scared of it; for some reason, I just don't like it."

Emma sighed. "It's just a storm, Henry."

"But it's bad! I don't know how it is, it just is!" Henry exclaimed.

"What book did you read before going to bed? Did it begin with 'it was a dark and stormy night'?"

"I haven't been reading ghost stories!" Henry protested. "I can feel it!"

"Henry, if the fact that Mr. Gold-no, I'm sorry, _Rumpelstiltskin_-brought magic back to Storybrooke is giving you nightmares, then I'm going to tell him to devise another curse."

"It's not giving me nightmares!" Henry burst out. "Why do you never believe anybody?"

"Because I believe in logic, and being afraid of storms isn't logical," Emma pointed out. But then she sighed. "Okay, look. I used to be scared of storms when I was little. My foster mom at the time took me out on the porch and made me watch the rain and lightning. After that, I had an admiration for storms rather than a fear. Come on, let's go outside and I'll show you there's nothing to be afraid of."

Henry's brow furrowed, but he followed Emma towards the door.

*8*8*

Back at Mr. Gold's home, things had gotten worse.

Baelfire's kitten, a fluffy little silver-furred creature that he had named Raine (after his friend, Morraine), had been hiding under the sofa.

Unfortunately, after a particularly earth-shaking explosion of thunder, it had shot out from under the sofa and tore around the house in a panic.

Baelfire chased after it, but to no avail. Finding no safety from the loud noises _inside _the house, it took the only other escape route left-it darted out the cat door and into the night.

Baelfire reached for the doorknob.

"Bae, no!" Gold shouted. "Leave the cat, she'll find her way back in soon enough!"

"We can't just leave her out there!" Baelfire cried.

"But-" Gold tried to reason with him.

"You don't have to come; I'll find her myself." With that, Baelfire opened the door and disappeared into the stormy night.

Of course, Gold and Belle followed. Both were so worried about Baelfire, they didn't notice that the sky above had become a deadly-looking, swirling vortex of blackness...

*8*8*

"See? There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a lot of rain and a lot of noise," Emma said, gesturing at the stormy surroundings outside their house.

Henry frowned, clearly still uneasy. He glanced up, noticing that the brewing clouds above looked an awful lot like a vortex of some kind.

And that was when a soft melody began to play from out of nowhere, and a spicy scent of peppermint and cinnamon filled the air.

Before Henry could even think of saying, _I told you so!_, he and Emma were yanked up into the sky by an invisible force, disappearing into the vortex.

*8*8*

"I found her!" Belle called, picking up a wet and bedraggled Raine, who had been hiding under a bush.

Gold and Baelfire went over to her, and Baelfire happily took his kitten from Belle and hugged her to his chest.

"What's that sound?" Gold asked as they were walking towards the house.

"It sounds like...music," Belle mused, frowning. She sniffed at the air, detecting the scent of peppermint and...was that _cinnamon_?

Just then, they heard Baelfire cry out, and the two of them spun around, identical expressions of terror on their faces.

Baelfire was gone.

"Bae!" Gold shouted, in a panic. He started forward, frantically scanning the yard with his eyes. "Bae, where are you? _Bae_!"

But then he and Belle were pulled into the vortex.

-X-X-X-

**Author's Note: **That was a lot of fun to write! :) I hope you enjoyed reading it; in the next chapter, we get to find out just what happened to dear Mr. Gold and his family, as well as Sheriff Emma Swan and Henry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **I should be introducing characters from the "Sisters Grimm" books in this chapter!  
Also, for the story, I will be referring to the Sisters Grimm characters by the fairy tale names-i.e, Prince Charming, Little Red Riding Hood, and Mad Hatter-but the OUAT characters by their usual names, for instance, Jefferson, Red, and David. It'll be a little easier to understand, I think.

-X-X-X-

**When you're thrown into a new world  
A world you've never known  
What else can you do  
But take a deep breath and  
Learn to cope?**

_Gwin Gold - "A World You've Never Known" (poem)_

-X-X-X-

Mr. Gold landed with a bone-jarring thud on what felt like concrete. He groaned and lay there, struggling to catch his breath.

"Papa...?" A weak moan came from Gold's right side.

He rolled over to see Baelfire leaning against the side of a building, clutching a mewling Raine in his arms.

"I'm here, boy, I'm here," Gold whispered, painfully propping himself up on his elbows. He shook his head slightly to clear it of the fog, and sat up.

Upon looking around, he realized that Belle, Sheriff Emma Swan, and Henry were also sprawled out on the concrete. The Mad Hatter-more commonly known as Jefferson-and his daughter Grace were there too, but they were not sprawled out anywhere. On the contrary, both of them were standing up, bewildered but otherwise unharmed.

"What's going on here, _Rumpelstiltskin_?" Emma spoke his old name with derision.

"You really think I'm the one who did this?" Gold snapped. "Do you think I would cast a spell in such a way that it would send everyone falling to the ground and nearly break their backs? For you, maybe, but not Baelfire, Belle, and myself."

Emma glared at him, but before she could make a stinging retort, Belle interrupted.

"Well, standing here bickering isn't going to help us. The best thing to do is go and find out just where it is we are," she pointed out, getting to her feet and brushing off her blue-and-white dress.

"Belle's right," Henry agreed.

That ended the argument, and everyone stood up. Except for Jefferson and Grace, who were already standing.

"I don't recognize anything..." Baelfire said, cradling Raine in his arms as he studied the town around them.

Neither did Mr. Gold. The dozen or so buildings there were in town were all small-never any taller than three stories-and made of brownstone. It was rather quiet, and not many people were out and about.

In fact, except for the brownstone making of the buildings, it almost reminded him of Storybrooke.

They began to make their way through the town. Gold paid close attention to his surroundings; after all, one never knew when they would have to make a quick escape, and it helped greatly to know where you were.

Suddenly, a short man came stumbling out of what appeared to be the courthouse. He crashed right into Jefferson.

"Hey, watch it," Jefferson exclaimed, shoving back at the man. He only did that, however, because, if he stumbled and fell, he would crash into Grace, who was right behind him.

"Who are you? I've never seen you here before!" demanded the man, speaking with a prominent lisp.

"Jefferson, also known as the Mad Hatter," Jefferson replied, then stopped. It had been automatic for him; what if this person thought he was crazy?

Oh, wait, he was. Jefferson was no longer concerned.

"Preposterous!" yelped the other man.

"Why?" Jefferson asked.

"You can't be the Mad Hatter, because _I'm _the Mad Hatter!"

All of the Storybrookers stared at the strange man.

"What?!" Jefferson exclaimed. "That's ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous is as ridiculous does," proclaimed the man-who-claimed-to-be-the-Mad-Hatter.

"I'm sorry to ruin this _ridiculous _discussion, dearies," Mr. Gold cut in, his voice thick with sarcasm. "But could you tell us where we are? We've gotten ourselves slightly lost."

"You're either lost or you aren't, you can't be slightly or both," pointed out the Mad Hatter.

Gold would have rolled his eyes, if he hadn't been sophisticated enough to refrain. "All right, we're lost."

"So buy a map!" the Mad Hatter exclaimed, clapping his hands gleefully.

Gold stared at the Mad Hatter in complete astonishment. "I just asked where we are, I don't want to go and buy a _map_."

"Rumpel, you should know better than anyone that you can't ask madmen questions," Emma pointed out. "Let's just go find someone else."

"I am someone else!" the Mad Hatter said, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Beat it," Emma snapped at him. She started to walk again, and the other Storybrookers followed close behind.

"He wasn't the Mad Hatter," Henry said consolingly to Jefferson. "He was just a crazy man."

"Agreed," Jefferson muttered, still feeling put-out that someone was trying to impersonate him.

"Why don't we ask her?" Baelfire asked, pointing at a chubby old woman standing by what appeared to be the sheriff's office.

"Any particular reason you chose her, Bae?" Henry teased, poking his friend in the arm.

"Yes," Baelfire replied, nodding sagely. "She's the only other person on the street."

At a second glance, Henry (and the rest of them) found that to be true.

They carefully made their way over to the old lady, who was skimming through papers she held in her hand. When she saw them, a wide smile lit up her wrinkled face.

"Well, hello there!" she exclaimed.

"Hello," Emma said. "Look, could you tell us where we are? We're kind of lost."

"Of course, of course. You're in Ferryport Landing," the old woman replied.

"Which is where?" inquired Henry.

"It's in New York, child," the old lady said. Then she snapped her fingers. "Oh, dear, I've completely forgotten my manners. I'm Relda Grimm." She looked as though she were about to hold her hand out for shaking, but then, realizing that there were seven people, decided against it and lowered her hand.

"Pleased to meet you," Emma said. Then she quickly introduced them all. "I'm Emma Swan, this is my son Henry, that's Jefferson and his daughter Grace. He's Mr. Gold, and that's his family, Belle and Baelfire."

"And this is Raine," Henry added, petting the gray kitten's head. She was curled up in Baelfire's arms, purring and fast asleep.

"Welcome to Ferryport Landing, my friends," Mrs. Grimm said, smiling.

"Could you tell us how we got here?" asked Gold. "I mean, one minute we were safe at home, and then a storm kicks up and we all wind up here."

Mrs. Grimm's face darkened. "Oh, dear."

"What's the matter?" asked Baelfire.

"You must have been brought here by one of the time tears," Mrs. Grimm said.

"And what the heck are _time tears_?" Emma complained.

"Well, they're created by grave disruptions of magic," Mrs. Grimm explained. "They usually bring people in and out of different places in time, but I do think some of them can take people from the present time and deposit them somewhere else in that same time; just a different place."

The Storybrookers stared at her blankly, before Belle hesitantly spoke up. "So...we're still in the same time period, just in a different place?"

"That's right," Mrs. Grimm answered.

"Well, send us back," Mr. Gold commanded.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't, Mr...Gold, is it?" He nodded sullenly. "The only way you can get back to where you come from is to travel there yourself. Until we fix the time tears, and retrieve the magic that is being misused, then whatever is brought here has to stay here."

"Why don't you use some of your all-powerful magic and send us back yourself, Rumpel?" mocked Emma.

"My magic isn't strong enough for that, dearie," he replied with an equally sarcastic and mocking tone.

"Don't get into another argument you two, please," Belle pleaded.

"Wait, wait, wait, darlings," Mrs. Grimm exclaimed. "Did you say 'magic'? And I thought his name was 'Gold' and not 'Rumpel'."

"Oh, I forgot to mention," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, Henry is my son, Gold is Rumpelstiltskin, Jefferson is the Mad Hatter and Grace there is his daughter. Belle is, obviously, Belle, from that one story 'Beauty and the Beast', and Baelfire is Gold's son."

There was a short silence.

"That was a perfectly gentle way to break it to her," Mr. Gold said sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"Oh, no, it made quite enough sense," Mrs. Grimm said. "Only one thing confuses me; Snow White lives here, and she was never married to Charming, and she certainly never had a daughter. And the Mad Hatter... well, he's quite mad and is actually standing outside of the courthouse right now."

Again, the sidewalk fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Anyone who glanced at Jefferson would have noticed that he looked extremely exasperated.

"I'm sorry, you're wrong," Emma said. "Snow White lives in Storybrooke, where the rest of us came from. She's also known as Mary Margaret."

"She's right," Gold said. "Snow has come into my shop many a time. I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mrs. Grimm."

Mrs. Grimm stared at them for a second, and then turned around, mumbling to herself under her breath. "Well, this is a pickle...alternate realities, perhaps? Imposters...maybe not, maybe so...should do some research...time tears...somewhere to stay..."

Gold frowned, and glanced over at the others to see what their reactions were. Henry was twirling a finger at the side of his head in the universal 'looney' sign in order to make Grace giggle. Baelfire and Belle had furrowed brows, indicating that they were concentrating hard. Jefferson looked sulky, and Emma was rolling her eyes, muttering under her breath.

Mrs. Grimm spun around again, a clearly fake smile plastered on her face. "Well, until you feel rested enough to start on your way home, you'll need somewhere to stay. My home has more than enough room!"


End file.
